


Solstice

by ImogenSmiley



Series: Reigisa [16]
Category: Free!
Genre: Acceptance, Coming Out, Established Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei, Established Relationship, His Boyfriend Just Happens To Be His Best Friend, Internalised Homophobia, It Was Never A Phase, Its Not A Phase, LGBTQ Themes, Lowkey Internalised Homophobia, M/M, Meeting The Parents...Kinda, Meeting the Parents, Misunderstandings, Nagisa Introduces His Family To His Boyfriend, Past Hazuki Nagisa/ Matsuoka Rin - Freeform, Phases, Self-Acceptance, Sexuality, Understanding, Writemas, coming out again, discussing sexuality, love is love, writemas 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21804925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: The moon looks as if its going through phases, but the only thing that changes is how you're seeing it.
Relationships: Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei
Series: Reigisa [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531475
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Solstice

Coming out when he was young hadn’t shocked his parents. He’d come home from school with his playmate, Rin-chan, whom he went to swim club with. He would tell his parents how Rin-chan was his boyfriend, and how they held hands a lot at school and after practice. They thought very little of their son’s behaviour. He was a kid; they’d assumed it was a phase.

They were, evidently, incorrect in that assumption.

They’d never questioned their son and his choices when it came to clothing, blaming the use of loud colours, pastels and accessories as the influence of having three older sisters that used him as a dress up doll. There was never an issue with it. They hadn’t considered anything being different about their son: Nagisa was Nagisa, and that was all that mattered.

Academia was another story entirely, and despite his ADHD, he was expected to knuckle down and work hard toward getting into good schools. He had done his best to work hard in middle school, but struggling to focus in class, and then having to catch up at home was excruciating. The only reason he did as he was told was because of his parents; they promised him he could go to whichever High School he wanted if he studied hard. They wouldn’t meddle, or influence his decision at all.

Iwatobi High School and the thoughts of reuniting with old friends, was enough for him. Maybe Rin-chan had come back from Australia too! He’d lost touch with Mako-chan and Haru-chan when they stopped coming to the swim club, and his parents wouldn’t take him all the way to their houses to go calling for them, insisting the older boys were busy.

Nagisa had tried back then, to connect with the older boys, he’d even tried to talk to Rin-chan but he never got a reply to any of his forlorn love letters. Eventually he gave up hope on him, and his parents, had evidently assumed his crushing on boys’ phase was over.

But, then Ryugazaki Rei came into the picture. Hearing Nagisa talk so much about this person had shocked his parents. For years, Nagisa had shown little interest in people in a long time, so whoever Rei-chan was, she was clearly a nice person. Perhaps, in having a son called Nagisa, they should have considered that maybe, just maybe, Rei-chan wasn’t a girl.

But they were, as parents were, just too happy that Rei-chan was a good person, and making their son happy, that they didn’t care.

They met him for the first time. Rei Ryugazaki was a very charming boy, he had a very formal and reserved disposition and didn’t hesitate to offer to help make food and drinks for the family when he’d visit. Very polite.

They noticed how their son acted when he was beside him; how it was like an electric current surged through every muscle of his body, and the only way to expel the energy was to be beside Rei. How he’d talk a mile a minute about anything and everything under the sun, and yet the blue haired boy had never hesitated to engage him. They discussed the most peculiar things, topics that the Hazuki family usually told Nagisa to be quiet about, because they know enough about it to actually contribute to a conversation.

Astrology, arts, history, music, oh so much about music, turned out that the Ryugazaki family were not only scientifically inclined, with both of his parents working in medicine, and his older brother a marine biologist, but they were also very musical. Rei was a pianist, as was his older brother back in the day. His younger sister had also retired from the instrument, but Rei still played.

It was shocking, to see them like that, how, like magnets, the pair shifted toward each other. Wherever one went, the other wasn’t far behind, there was a spark between them, chemistry that Nagisa’s family picked up on from as early as first year. This was a powerful bond: they clearly shared a lot with one another.

Nagisa hadn’t been this connected with a friend in years. He hadn’t been this in sync and excited about someone since Rin-chan…

They realised before Nagisa admitted it, that there was a chance that maybe, just maybe, that whole “crushing on boys’ phase” had never been a phase at all. Maybe his feelings for Rin-chan, and how forthcoming he was in sharing them, just as his sisters had done with their crushes, and boyfriends, was him doing the same. Maybe, he was, just attracted to boys. And that was something they needed to accept.

Nagisa came out to his parents when he was ten years old, prattling on about how Rin-chan was his boyfriend. He came out again, for the second time, formally, officially, proudly, when, for the first time, he brought Rei-chan to the house, their fingers laced together.

They had known each other for over a year; almost a year and a half, had shared two summers together, and from what Nagisa was saying to his parents, they were approaching their six month-anniversary.

They still shifted like magnets, their eyes rarely leaving each other. Rei was just as polite as Nagisa’s boyfriend as he had been his best friend, and that was okay. He wasn’t some random boy, who had come crashing into Nagisa’s life. Rei-chan was there, and had been there for him for so long.

They clearly, clearly shared a bond unlike what Nagisa and Rin-chan had had. Their son was growing up, and having real, adult relationships.

They’d share glances from across the rooms, and were always touching, usually it was their hands, their fingers laced together, their pinkies holding onto each other, like they’d been knotted together by the red string of fate itself. There was so much there with them, a love so pure that the Hazuki family didn’t need to berate Rei like they had done all of the other boyfriends of the Hazuki kids. Perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that before Rei-chan was Nagisa’s boyfriend, he was already part of the family, visiting almost every week, and studying with him from the moment that Nagisa’s position in the swim club came into question. Always there, always supportive, always insightful.

This was real, this was pure and it wasn’t going anywhere.


End file.
